Global Internet traffic plunged by approximately 40 percent after Google services suffered a complete black-out Friday night, showing clearly just how much of grip Google holds on the internet worldwide.

According to Sky News Online, Google has refused to provide additional information on why their services, from Google Search to Gmail to YouTube, went dark, but web analytics firm GoSquared, confirms that the one-to-five minute outage occurred and caused the 40 percent plunge in worldwide Internet traffic.

Digital expert Phil Dearson, head of strategy for Tribal Worldwide, estimates that Google lost nearly $500,000 in just that short of amount of time that all services went down.

[Update] According to a Newsy video, Microsoft just recovered from an Outlook and Skydrive outage as well.

If I were cynical, which I am becoming more and more each day, I would be asking if speculation about a “kill switch” test, could be more than just speculation.